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Monday, May 22, 2017

Ontario Blues Beat Glendale Raptors

If you had to pick the best team from the United States to play the best team in Canada there is no question that this year it would have been the Glendale Raptors and the Ontario Blues. The two teams played to a de facto North American championship on Saturday in Burlington, Ontario with the Blues winning 43-25.

Both teams brought out strong line-ups with several full internationals between each team, including several players that played in the recent Americas Rugby Championship. From a national team perspective it was an important match for both Canada and the U.S. as many of their top domestic players got a good runout prior to the June Internationals.

As expected the match started as a very even affair. The Raptors were the first to get on the board as Max De Achaval pounced on a box kick. However, the Blues were quick to equalize when Mike Sheppard crossed the line. Andrew Ferguson was on with his kick at the Blues would lead 7-5.

Take the jump to read more.The Raptors would then retake the lead with their second try. However, that advantage didn't last long as the Blues ran in two tries to lead 19-10. The teams would then trade tries leading to a 24-15 lead for the Blues at the break.

A yellow card on the Blues in the second half changed the dynamic of the game as the Raptors hit a penalty to make it 24-18. However, the card seemed to focus the Blues more as they scored three straight times to increase their advantage to 43-18. The Raptors would score the final try of the match.

1 comment:

"If you had to pick the best team from the United States to play the best team in Canada there is no question that this year it would have been the Glendale Raptors and the Ontario Blues." Old Blue of New York lost was up on Ontario with 2min to go and lost by 3 points on and arrant pass. Old Blue beat Mystic River, NYAC, and Chicago by all more than 20+ points. Glendale squeaked passed Mystic 16-22 a team Old Blue dismantled by 66-20 so I'd say the best team in USA Club rugby did play the best team Canada and it was on April 29th on Randall's Island in NYC.